Trump has apparently given his buddies the go ahead to say this out loud. We’re dialing “11” on the crazy knob at this point. What are you going to do with a President that’s gone rogue? If he actually follows through on this what happens?
How do you solve a problem like The Donald? A flibbertijibbet! A will-o’-the wisp! A clown!
I think this would lead to a constitutional crisis. Some congressmen might say they’d pass a new special counsel law and appoint Mueller themselves, but such legislation would be vetoed. What we would have would be a big neon sign on top of the White House saying “I AM ABOVE THE LAW” and enough Republican congressmen, thinking only of not offending his base, would meekly go along.
That’s what should happen. Hopefully, it would again. But- I have serious doubts about whether there would be enough Republican Senators with the intestinal fortitude to convict one of their own.
There would be a huge uproar by the D’s and the media. Some of the GOP party leaders would push to have a new special counsel appointed. Giuliani or Christie or some other loyalist with a prosecutor background would be appointed. If they started an actual investigation they would probably be fired. Rinse, lather, repeat until 2020. McConnell and Ryan will block any impeachment action as long as they have the majority of votes.
AIUI, only Rod Rosenstein can fire Mueller under the current rules and he says that he isn’t going to. Of course Trump can fire Rosenstein, or change the rules.
I don’t want to be too pessimistic, but if Trump does do that and get rid of Mueller somehow I don’t think anything too much will happen beyond some people yelling about it - at least not in the short term. The Republicans have collectively made a decision that they’re more afraid of losing their primary elections for failing to toe the line than losing general elections for toeing it. Unless and until that changes, Trump can do whatever he wants and no one on that side of the aisle will punish him. If that does change, it can change pretty quick though.
But he was facing a Democratic congress in both Houses; things are a little different now. The only thing that will force Republicans to change course on Trump is a real fear of losing the House next year. That is the only thing that will stop Trump – that and truly patriotic civil servants. But keep in mind at all times that these civil servants are part of the ‘administrative class’ that Steve Bannon wants to destroy. And now that they’re threatening Trump’s self-image, Trump wants to destroy them too.
Who is next in line if Roddy is fired…and doesn’t the next in line have to be checked out and/or confirmed before she/he even has the authority to follow Trump’s wish to fire Mueller?
He’ll actually use investigating obstruction as the reason. He’ll say that’s not part of what Mueller was appointed for.
He’ll order Sessions to do it. If Sessions tries to beg off, saying he recused himself, he’ll fire him. Then he’ll go to Rosenstein. Rosenstein won’t do it. He’ll fire him. Etc., until someone does it.
Trump doesn’t care if the Dems take the house and impeach him, he knows he’ll never get convicted. The more shit he takes and lives, the stronger he gets in his own head.
What about the other part of the question: Do they automatically have the power/authority to fire Mueller the instant Trump says “I choose you, [del]Pikachu[/del] sir/madame!”, or is there a background check and/or confirmation process they have to go through first?